Profile: Can Ricardo Sanchez go from impoverished Texas child to 3-star general to U.S. Senate?

Ricardo Sanchez tells of growing up knowing that no one expected him to succeed. The Texas border’s system of discrimination, which forced his father to use the back door to enter a McAllen bar, also threatened to shackle future generations of Hispanics.

But as he ponders an improbable run as a Democrat for the seat held by longtime Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in one of the nation’s reddest states, Sanchez isn’t daunted.

His rise from impoverished child to three-star general and commander of coalition troops in Iraq gives him confidence of once more beating the odds.

A decision is likely in the next few weeks. If he runs, Sanchez, 59 , of San Antonio will lay out a narrative he knows some Texans are unlikely to embrace.

It will tell of how welfare softened the blows of poverty and gave him the chance to become an outstanding student and combat soldier. He was voted most likely to succeed in his Rio Grande City High School class of 1969.

That narrative, moreover, almost certainly will serve as the cornerstone of a campaign that would be his first for public office.

“The people need to hear the truth. . . . . They may not be receptive, they may not like it,” Sanchez said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t tell the American people, and the people of Texas, what the truth is. . . .

“You can’t shy away from the difficult issues. You have to lay out the difficulties and the variables that must be changed to control the situation and to restore America’s and Texas’ greatness.”

Sanchez said he’d run as a Democrat because of his upbringing in Rio Grande City, where the first home he recalls living in was an old World War II barracks. But he also knows it’ll be an uphill fight in Texas, where the GOP holds every statewide elected office.

“Democrats recognize that Texas is a state that they can be competitive in sometime in the future because of the changing demographic,” said Isaac Wood , a political analyst with the University of Virginia Center for Politics .

The census shows Texas is getting younger and more Hispanic.

“Both of those groups have been pretty favorable to Democrats recently,” he said. “Obviously, the caution for them is they don’t know when in the future it’s going to cross over and become a competitive state. Right now, it’s still a Republican state.”

Sanchez retired from the Army on Nov. 1, 2006, as the highest-ranking Hispanic in the military. His 33-year career ended where it began, at Fort Sam Houston, his final parade inspection on a cold and gray morning shrouded in controversy.

As Iraq ground commander in summer 2003 , Sanchez faced an insurgency that blew up in the wake of Ambassador Paul Bremer’s order to disband the Iraqi army.

Later, he was dogged by allegations that stemmed from the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib , a prison notorious for torture during Saddam Hussein’s reign. He never was implicated in wrongdoing by investigators, but the damage was done.

Sanchez said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had planned to nominate him for a fourth star and to head U.S. Southern Command . In the end, he said, Rumsfeld and other leaders decided the Senate wouldn’t confirm him or would become embroiled in an acrimonious fight.

“I won’t say (Abu Ghraib) torpedoed the fourth star,” he told reporters in 2006. “But I’ll tell you the reason I’m retiring is that any nomination for Ric Sanchez was not in the best interest of the Department of Defense of the United States government. And that’s as stated to me by the chairman (of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers ) and the secretary of defense.”

Sitting in a spacious office above Audry’s City Centre Café , Sanchez laughed when asked if a return to the Senate that forced an end to his military career would be sweet revenge.

“That’s not the purpose in my considering it,” he said. “Look, this is about service to country. Every one of those politicians in Washington at one point, or at least I hope at one point, decided to run for political office in order to serve the country.

Sanchez said Democratic Party operatives recruited him. Democrats say changing times give them hope. He conceded the real purpose of recruiting him could be to force Republicans to pour money into the Senate race — a diversion of resources that wouldn’t be necessary in the absence of a strong Democratic candidate.

The frontrunner: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (AP photo)

Five Republicans, though, are interested. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will reveal his decision later this year. One-time state Solicitor General Ted Cruz is seeking the GOP nomination, as are Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, former Secretary of State Roger Williams and former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert .

“He would bring a new perspective to the Senate, as well as a proven commitment to our nation’s security and the men and women who fight to protect it,” the DSCC’s Matt Canter explained.

Sanchez wouldn’t give positions on specific issues, but cited the economy, deficit, education, energy and family values as his chief concerns. Still, expect the issues he champions to be guided by his Catholic faith. His positions also will be rooted in a childhood so poor he used cardboard to cover the holes in the soles of his shoes.

“I came from a broken home. I attended public schools my entire time. My family was on welfare most of my days growing up here in Texas,” Sanchez said.

“So I understand the processes, the challenges, the factors that play on our poor. I understand the despair and also the desire to succeed and to try to get out of poverty.

“And it’s about providing opportunity, and it’s not about blaming the people who are poor for being poor because of broken family structures or whatever,” he added. “It’s about being able to give them that opportunity that will break the cycle of poverty, give them the education they need to be able to open those doors that will make them successful.

“It’s about reinforcing family values that help America across the board and also allows us to reinforce the greatness of the country.”